"The Lord said to Moses, 'I see how stiff-necked this people is. Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.'"
Exodus 32:9-10
Is it just me, or does God seem sort of...crabby here? I mean, God had every right to be angry about the whole golden calf deal, but blazing wrath just doesn't sound like the same God Jesus showed us. I wonder why it is an important part of the Jewish story that a human being had to intervene for the people? It is a familiar story throughout the Old Testament though, isn't it? Jonah warned Nineveh, didn't he? The people repented and God dialed back the anger. It's a familiar theme that some may even see in the New Testament, too, but I don't see it that way. Jesus came to show us how to live, die and rise again in love. I don't see Jesus as much an intercessor for us as an example for us of what will happen in every human life and how we humans are to be with each other. Jesus showed us God the Father's love and mercy, rather than his wrath. God's wrath was part of the Jewish story that Jesus came to soften. As Fr. Richard Rohr often says, Jesus didn't come to change God's mind about us, but to change our minds about God. Woven throughout the Jewish story about God is God's coming back to the people again and again to be part of their lives. That is the constant to remember about God...not so much God's wrath. Love, heidi
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Wiggle free!
"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be well?'"
John 5:6
Such a profound question and we are all asked the same thing, perhaps several times per day. Do we want to be well? Or are we too comfortable wallowing in our "stuff" that keeps us (we think) out of God's reach? We are never out of God's reach, ever. But, sometimes we may think we are and we'd rather stay stuck in our own mire than change our hearts. God wants to soften our hearts, open our minds and extend our arms outward to love others better. But we can be like this guy on the edge, unwilling or unable or both to get himself into the healing waters. That how Jesus can change us, by giving us the nudge we need to get out of our comfort zones and makes some positive love changes. Today, as we move through our mid-March week, let's think about how easy it is to get comfortable in our own stuck-ness. We get it. We've been there a long time and we know it well. It may be easier for us to stay here than to wiggle ourselves free from it. But Jesus is here to help us wiggle and set us free. Love heidi
John 5:6
Such a profound question and we are all asked the same thing, perhaps several times per day. Do we want to be well? Or are we too comfortable wallowing in our "stuff" that keeps us (we think) out of God's reach? We are never out of God's reach, ever. But, sometimes we may think we are and we'd rather stay stuck in our own mire than change our hearts. God wants to soften our hearts, open our minds and extend our arms outward to love others better. But we can be like this guy on the edge, unwilling or unable or both to get himself into the healing waters. That how Jesus can change us, by giving us the nudge we need to get out of our comfort zones and makes some positive love changes. Today, as we move through our mid-March week, let's think about how easy it is to get comfortable in our own stuck-ness. We get it. We've been there a long time and we know it well. It may be easier for us to stay here than to wiggle ourselves free from it. But Jesus is here to help us wiggle and set us free. Love heidi
Monday, March 12, 2018
Into my heart...
"Do people weigh you down? Don't carry them on your shoulders. Take them into your heart."
Dom Helder Camara, "The Little Black Book"
This spoke vividly to me this morning as I wrestle with a work issue. People are weighing me down, yes, they are. I'm getting crabby under the weight of them riding on my shoulders. It's lovely to realize they shouldn't be riding there, but safely tucked in my heart, where God and I can love them together. I cannot possibly love them on my own--I'm not wired for it. But God can love them through me and between the two of us, we can love them better. Thank you, Gracious God, for loving through me! Please help me get these people off of my shoulders and into my heart, where they belong. Love, heidi
Dom Helder Camara, "The Little Black Book"
This spoke vividly to me this morning as I wrestle with a work issue. People are weighing me down, yes, they are. I'm getting crabby under the weight of them riding on my shoulders. It's lovely to realize they shouldn't be riding there, but safely tucked in my heart, where God and I can love them together. I cannot possibly love them on my own--I'm not wired for it. But God can love them through me and between the two of us, we can love them better. Thank you, Gracious God, for loving through me! Please help me get these people off of my shoulders and into my heart, where they belong. Love, heidi
Friday, March 9, 2018
Return, not earn...
"I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew for Israel; he shall blossom like the lily..."
Hosea 14:5-6
Now, does that sound like a God who wants to annihilate us? Is that a God who only loves us if we behave and obey all the rules? It sounds to me like the most loving parent...the parent who loves nothing more than to give us our hearts desire and asks nothing of us in return. I'm not sure how we got to the point where we feel we must earn God's love. Rather than earn, we are just invited to return God's love. And that means loving God's creation--ALL of God's creation. We are midway through Lent (hasn't it gone fast?) and now is the time to look inside and see where we are as far as loving God's creation. For as we love God's creation--that is how we are loving God. And this Lent of Love, beginning on Valentine's Day, is all about love. Love, heidi
Hosea 14:5-6
Now, does that sound like a God who wants to annihilate us? Is that a God who only loves us if we behave and obey all the rules? It sounds to me like the most loving parent...the parent who loves nothing more than to give us our hearts desire and asks nothing of us in return. I'm not sure how we got to the point where we feel we must earn God's love. Rather than earn, we are just invited to return God's love. And that means loving God's creation--ALL of God's creation. We are midway through Lent (hasn't it gone fast?) and now is the time to look inside and see where we are as far as loving God's creation. For as we love God's creation--that is how we are loving God. And this Lent of Love, beginning on Valentine's Day, is all about love. Love, heidi
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Sitting with the suffering...
"Presence is the gift we bring to the heart of this suffering world and to our Lord. And it is the gift he most desires. It is the gift that matters."
Colleen C. Mitchell, "Who Does He Say You Are?"
Every time something horrible happens we say the same thing, "What can I do? How can I help?" That's where we go immediately--wanting to DO something, fix it, make it better. It's human nature, I believe, to want to alleviate suffering. But what about when you can't? What about those times that are so far beyond our ability to fix? It could be that simply our presence is help enough. This particular chapter in this book on women who encounter Jesus, emphasizes that simply being with others in their suffering should not be discounted as helpful. Sitting with someone in a situation you cannot fix may be exactly what they need right then. It never seems enough to me and I tend to run the other way unless there is a concrete "something" I can do. I'm a better do-er than a sitter-with-er, believe me! But there is tremendous grace in the space of sitting-with. Taking the step to enter into the grief of another person results in great grace, for that space of suffering and pain is exactly where God is too. Entering in it allows us to be with God, cry real tears with God, and be graced by God. There is such suffering all around us and, if you're like me, it feels overwhelming-like emptying out the ocean with an eyedropper. But let's try to just enter in and be with those who are suffering, whether we know them or not, whether they live in our community or not. We may know someone going through a difficult time right now. Or we may sit and pray for the people of the world most vulnerable and struggling. Just being with them and going to that difficult space will take us right to God. Love, heidi
Colleen C. Mitchell, "Who Does He Say You Are?"
Every time something horrible happens we say the same thing, "What can I do? How can I help?" That's where we go immediately--wanting to DO something, fix it, make it better. It's human nature, I believe, to want to alleviate suffering. But what about when you can't? What about those times that are so far beyond our ability to fix? It could be that simply our presence is help enough. This particular chapter in this book on women who encounter Jesus, emphasizes that simply being with others in their suffering should not be discounted as helpful. Sitting with someone in a situation you cannot fix may be exactly what they need right then. It never seems enough to me and I tend to run the other way unless there is a concrete "something" I can do. I'm a better do-er than a sitter-with-er, believe me! But there is tremendous grace in the space of sitting-with. Taking the step to enter into the grief of another person results in great grace, for that space of suffering and pain is exactly where God is too. Entering in it allows us to be with God, cry real tears with God, and be graced by God. There is such suffering all around us and, if you're like me, it feels overwhelming-like emptying out the ocean with an eyedropper. But let's try to just enter in and be with those who are suffering, whether we know them or not, whether they live in our community or not. We may know someone going through a difficult time right now. Or we may sit and pray for the people of the world most vulnerable and struggling. Just being with them and going to that difficult space will take us right to God. Love, heidi
Monday, March 5, 2018
The ripples of loving well...
"We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep...Thus, we shall always be with the Lord."
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 18
I heard this reading at a very beautiful, but very difficult funeral this last weekend...for a young man who died far too young. But something his good friend said during his remarks really touched my heart. His friend said the way Henry (Lopez) lived meant his life couldn't be measured simply by number of years. His life would be measured by all the people he touched and the lives he enriched just by knowing him. I watched all of these beautiful young people, so stunned by the sudden loss of their friend and realized how different their lives would be now they have been touched by this grief. But they will take their friendship with Henry with them wherever they go and lovely ripples of Henry will go on and on through all the lives he touched. Those of us with several more years behind us can learn a vivid lesson from this wisdom of youth. We can learn to measure our lives, not by number of years, but by how others enrich our lives and how we can touch the lives of others. So, as we go about our March Monday, lets be aware of all who we will contact today. Can we create positive ripples that will move out and enrich others? Let's learn from the young people among us and love well today... Love, heidi
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 18
I heard this reading at a very beautiful, but very difficult funeral this last weekend...for a young man who died far too young. But something his good friend said during his remarks really touched my heart. His friend said the way Henry (Lopez) lived meant his life couldn't be measured simply by number of years. His life would be measured by all the people he touched and the lives he enriched just by knowing him. I watched all of these beautiful young people, so stunned by the sudden loss of their friend and realized how different their lives would be now they have been touched by this grief. But they will take their friendship with Henry with them wherever they go and lovely ripples of Henry will go on and on through all the lives he touched. Those of us with several more years behind us can learn a vivid lesson from this wisdom of youth. We can learn to measure our lives, not by number of years, but by how others enrich our lives and how we can touch the lives of others. So, as we go about our March Monday, lets be aware of all who we will contact today. Can we create positive ripples that will move out and enrich others? Let's learn from the young people among us and love well today... Love, heidi
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